It's a BOY!

Well, the title of this post says it all! We had our ultrasound, and it turned out that our little baby had all the telltale signs of being a little boy! When the the woman doing our ultrasound got to the space between his legs, she said "Oh!" and then, "Well, would you like to take a guess at what it is?" I don't know about you, but I think people only exclaim "Oh!" when they've seen something. So we guessed boy, and boy-oh-boy were we right! I was so excited about knowing during the rest of the ultrasound, and every once in a while I'd giggle and say "Craig, he has a tiny little penis!" To preserve some ounce of dignity for the adult my child will someday be, I will not be posting the giveaway picture, but trust me, he's a he.

Our baby boy!

The rest of that day/ultrasound went really well. We both took the day off work, so we were able to sleep in a bit (although I really couldn't because I was so excited). We headed up early and ate at a Vietnamese restaurant--we were hoping the spicy food would ensure that Booger would be awake and kicking (it did). Oh, that reminds me...the night before, I finally felt Booger make some definite movement! The morning of the ultrasound, it happened again. It was as though he was just as excited about us seeing him as we were! Both times Craig was even able to feel the movement. It was incredible, and now I've felt a little movement each day since then.

Seventeen weeks

Anyway, after lunch, we headed to the hospital where our appointment started almost a half hour late. I was getting VERY antsy, but they finally got us in right after I reminded them that we were still waiting. The rest of the ultrasound went really well. Booger is progressing well. He's in the fifty-first percentile, which is right where they want him to be. He's a whopping fifteen ounces, so he's actually about three days ahead of schedule. They're keeping the same due date, but technically he's on schedule to come around the third of June rather than the sixth. Keep that information in mind when you start placing bets! I'm not sure what his length is, but the woman said his head is one inch from ear to ear. He still has quite a bit of growing to do!

Nineteen weeks

After the ultrasound, we had our second centering class, which went really well. We discussed some of the not-so-great side effects of pregnancy. I'm glad Craig's been able to make it to the first two, but I don't know if he'll be able to make it to most of the rest of them. We'll see.

Beefy baby leg!

On our way home, we stopped in Vermillion to celebrate our exciting news with loved ones. We had made a point to call and text people between the ultrasound and centering, so everyone already knew by that time. It was fun to talk about it in person and show people our baby's cute pictures.

Twenty weeks

Not much else is going on on the baby front. Like I said, Booger's movements are far more noticeable now, which is a ton of fun for both of us. We're trying to figure out some boy names, which is proving to be a challenge. We have a few names in the running, though. Our goal is a name that's a little different, but not obnoxiously different. Hopefully we'll have a few options lined up by the time Booger is here, and then we'll know when we see him.

Flexible baby

We've had some other big life changes in the past month. At the end of my fourth week at my bank job, I heard about a mid-year teaching position that opened up. Over the next few days, I inquired about it, interviewed for it, and then the day after interviewing, I was offered the job! Did I mention that this was the day before classes started? I left the bank right then, went to the school to meet the other teachers, and then I showed up as the newest teacher the next day. That first day was a little crazy. I had students peeking in my room in the morning, and then I'd hear giggling from the group as they left my room. Since then, I've settled in pretty well. There have been some ups and downs. It's definitely not easy to just jump into teaching without any preparation for lessons, but since then I've developed a pretty good routine. The school has a block schedule (classes are an hour and a half), and my first block is my prep time. That means I have my first hour and a half to prepare for the rest of the day. After that, I have a class called Study Skills with 8th graders, homeroom with 7th graders, lunch, 7th grade English, and then 11th  grade English. It's definitely a huge jump to go from middle schoolers to high schoolers, but I'm getting used to it. All of my students are excited about the baby, and I took a poll before the ultrasound. When I announced the gender, my students who guessed correctly cheered. Also, my 7th graders made me a little sign that said "Congradulations Mrs. Powell" (complete with the spelling error...I have work to do), and they all signed it. It was very sweet. I've already survived my first parent-teacher conferences, as well as my first confrontation with cheating students. Like I said, there have been ups and downs, but I think I'm settling in pretty well.

Twenty-one weeks

Our other big life change is the fact that Craig and I are in the process of buying a house! We've gone through the steps a few times in the past, but this is the first time we've made it this far in the process. So far, we've had an inspection, made a list of things we wanted fixed, and the seller has agreed to fix six of the seven things on our list. Next, we'll have the appraisal, but it seems as though we've made it through the most difficult steps. In less than two months, we could be in our new 3-bed, 2-bath house! And in less than five months, we'll be bringing Booger home to it!

A shot of the proud dad, too!

Okay, that's it for tonight. Craig and I have had a great weekend of being lazy, and I need to get back to vegging out with him.

Obligatory creepy lava baby picture

Boy or Girl?

I thought I'd get a brief post in before we head to our ultrasound today. We've known from the beginning that we want to find out the baby's gender at our ultrasound. Some people say it's not a surprise that way, but frankly, we've already gone this long without knowing. It will still be a surprise for us--we'll just be finding out a little sooner! With future children we might be a bit more patient (key word is "might"), but since this is our first child, we really want to find out. I feel like we'll be entering a new chapter of this pregnancy. Booger will no longer be "it" but "he" or "she." We'll be able to buckle down on names. Our families will be able to satisfy the urge to buy gender-specific outfits. On top of all of this, Craig and I have a friendly bet. From the beginning, he's felt that we're having a boy, and I've felt that we're having a girl. Whoever's right gets to a choose a special date for the two us. To be honest, I felt that Booger is a girl in the beginning, but now I really don't know. I feel like I should have some kind of mother's intuition, but there are some days when I feel it's a boy and others when I'm positive it's a girl. I've had dreams with both a boy baby and a girl baby. I've tried old wives' tricks and most have said it's a girl, but there are still some that say it's a boy. I'll just go with the age-old new-parent saying of "It doesn't matter to me as long as it's healthy and happy." I know that gets said a lot, but it's true. This baby will obviously be loved and adored no matter what--we just can't wait to take one more step in getting to know our baby today!